On Superstring Theory

Two-time Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Shen Qi is looking to recruit a group of talented individuals in the field of Theoretical Physics to work together on important matters.

With government support, enthusiastic industry response, and a large number of applicants, the event attracted widespread attention.

Within a short period of time, hundreds and thousands of resumes were collected by the Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center.

The center's Theoretical Physics section is headed by two Finikov and Novo 1990 scholars, Shen Qi and Witten, both living legends.

Joining such a research institution is extremely attractive to physicists.

Applicants must be under 40, hold a PhD in physics or be about to graduate with a PhD, and have published at least one article as the first author in an SCI journal... There are far too many applicants who meet these stringent requirements.

After the initial selection, the Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center retained one-third of the resumes, all of which belonged to outstanding scholars.

Good character, politically qualified, and with a correct ideology and attitude... These soft indicators have relatively flexible evaluation criteria. After review, the center kept twenty resumes.

The initial and secondary reviews were conducted by Shen Qi's subordinates. The twenty applicants who entered the final PK round would be interviewed by Shen Qi one by one. Ultimately, half of them would come to the center and become Shen Qi and Witten's physics assistants.

In the central conference room, Shen Qi sat upright with a smile on his face.

The first interviewee was impeccably dressed and exuded an air of sophistication. He introduced himself with neither arrogance nor servility, "Professor Shen, hello. My name is Wade, the 'Wei' of Wei Xiaobao and the 'De' of morality. I am thirty-five years old. I received my undergraduate degree in University Physics and my master's and doctoral degrees from Oxford University, under the tutelage of Professor Bruce Jack Bruce. After graduating with my doctorate, I have been working in the UK, primarily researching field theory on Riemann surfaces and topological String Theory. I have published nine SCI papers and co-authored an academic monograph with Professor Bruce, which has been published in the UK and India..."

Shen Qi made an apologetic gesture, interrupting the applicant's standardized self-introduction. "Dr. Wade, get to the point. I've already read the information on your resume."

Dr. Wade flinched, looking slightly nervous.

As a research elite who graduated from Oxford, Dr. Wade reacted quite quickly and regained his composure and confidence, saying clearly, "I am politically qualified, have a correct attitude, am honest and trustworthy, and have my motherland at heart. During my studies and work in the UK, I never forgot to review the core socialist values and often reminded myself that science knows no borders, but scientists have a motherland."

"Well said!" Shen Qi clapped his hands and laughed.

Dr. Wade's body trembled again, this time with relief, finally making Boss Shen happy.

Shen Qi shook hands with Dr. Wade: "Welcome back to our motherland, Dr. Wade. We are colleagues now."

Dr. Wade was very excited. "I hope Professor Shen will continue to guide me in the future!"

Shen Qi was fairly satisfied with Dr. Wade's overall qualities. This overseas-educated scholar had achieved fruitful academic results, and his expertise was relevant to Shen Qi's recruitment requirements.

As for Dr. Wade's compensation, it will be determined by the state; in any case, outstanding scholars who return to China to develop their careers will not be disadvantaged.

One by one, the interviewees entered the meeting room and chatted and talked with Shen Qi.

Most of the interviewees had overseas study experience, and many of them are currently working or pursuing doctoral degrees at overseas research institutions.

The people were recruited by the state, which took this opportunity to bring back a group of outstanding scholars in basic theoretical fields to develop their careers in China.

These scholars are all excellent. Shen Qi originally only wanted ten people, but he changed his plan and kept fifteen.

The center's basic physics research team grew overnight. Including two veteran employees, Sha Dongdong and Dr. Qu, who had never been abroad, seventeen physics PhDs formed a super-powerful theoretical research team. They graduated from different schools and received training in different systems. Now they have only one goal: to follow Shen Qi in tackling the century-old problems in physics.

Before the advent of M-theory, all subatomic particles were thought to be composed of tiny superstrings.

M-theory adds a more mysterious substance called a "membrane" to the spectrum of matter that makes up subatomic particles. It is like a membrane in physiology, but with a maximum of nine dimensions.

The question now is, what are the more fundamental building blocks of matter? Are membranes the components that make up strings, or is it the other way around?

Or perhaps there exist other, more fundamental units of matter that people simply haven't thought of yet?

Does one of these two substances actually exist, or is M-theory merely a fascinating brain teaser?

With these enigmatic questions of the century in mind, the center's seventeen domestic and overseas-trained PhDs, led by Shen Qi and Witten, will launch a powerful assault on M-theory.

Witten flew from the United States to the Chinese Capital, and after meeting Shen Qi, he exclaimed with emotion, "I have spent my whole life studying Superstring Theory, and the research result that won me the Nobel Prize in Physics is actually the Navier-Stokes equations."

"Life is always full of surprises," Shen Qi said with a smile.

Whether or not he can win an award for his research in Superstring Theory is no longer important to Witten, because he is already Nobel Prize in Physics laureate.

The remaining task is to prove whether the research topic to which a scholar has devoted his life is a correct proposition.

Shen Qi and Witten, two prominent figures, reunited with seventeen fundamental physics researchers from the center to discuss M-theory and Superstring Theory, attempting to find a breakthrough.

Without a doubt, Witten is a leading figure in Superstring Theory and the most authoritative expert in the field.

Of the three major research achievements that sparked the first revolution in Superstring Theory, Witten participated in and led two of them, laying a solid foundation for the development of Superstring Theory.

However, even today, Witten still regrets the first Superstring Theory revolution.

Because of a problem that existed at the time, Witten still cannot fully explain it to this day.

"Let's assume a stunt performer is walking a tightrope. For the stunt performer, who can only move back and forth along the tightrope, the tightrope is one-dimensional. Does anyone have any questions about this assumption?" Witten said to his dozen or so Chinese colleagues, giving them an embarrassed look. "I'm sorry, I'm too old to speak Chinese, so please allow me to communicate with you in English."

"You can use English, Edward," Shen Qi said. He knew that Witten could speak a few words of Chinese, such as "Nihao," "thank you," and "Nihao huo kan."

Expecting Witten to explain his Superstring Theory clearly entirely in Chinese is asking too much of the old man.

"Okay, let's continue. To a stuntman, the wire is one-dimensional. But if we magnify the wire ten thousand times, we find that ants crawl on its surface. To the tiny ants, the surface of the wire is two-dimensional." Witten casually straightened a rope; he was adept at using common objects to describe profound physical phenomena or theories. "However, because of its small size and curvature, the stuntman is unaware of this second dimension. In other words, the surface, which should have two dimensions, appears as a one-dimensional curve from a distance. Does anyone have any questions?"

"No." Neither Shen Qi nor Witten's Chinese colleagues raised any objections.

Because the direction of space, that is, a part of the dimension, is too small, the phenomenon of the actual reduction of dimension is called "compacting"... This is one of the research results of the first Superstring Theory revolution.

Eighteen Chinese and one American were able to sit together at Yenching University to tackle the most profound problems in physics. They must have been of one mind in terms of strategy, namely, to acknowledge the major research results of the first Superstring Theory revolution.

If a consensus cannot be reached on this general direction, then there is no need to continue discussing the subsequent matters.

During the first Superstring Theory revolution, Witten argued that if the 9-dimensional Superstring Theory were compacted by removing the six extra dimensions, it would become a 3-dimensional theory.

In fact, there were quite a few people who questioned or even opposed Witten's theory at the time, but Witten refuted them one by one, thus establishing his academic status as the foremost figure in Superstring Theory.

However, Witten's biggest thorn in his side was his inability to explain a crucial question in his theory: why choose the "Carbilo- Qiu Chengtong space" with an absolute Euler Number of 6?

When I asked Professor Qiu Chengtong, he looked completely innocent, saying it had nothing to do with me. He claimed that when he proved the "Kabila- Qiu Chengtong space," he had never even heard of Edward Witten or dimensionality reduction theory.